pv shows progress on anything you pipe
A pg_restore or a gzip of a large file shows no sign of life while it runs. pv sits in the pipe and shows you throughput and an ETA.
pv backup.dump | pg_restore -d app
tar cf - src | pv -s $(du -sb src | cut -f1) | gzip > src.tgz-s tells it the total size, so the ETA actually means something.
shell